The OFFICIAL 2023 NBA Season Thread

[KhalDrogo]

Originally Posted by cms11

How'd they feel when Kobe didn't make the playoffs his final 3 seasons?

One game in and LeBron stans are already on a whole new level of defensiveness.

[bradjames12]

1 game in and LeBron is already crapping on the Lakers as a team

https://uproxx.com/dimemag/lebron-ja...hooting-video/

[tjforce]

1 game in and both sides need to chill on the LeBron hot takes and just appreciate that a guy that's soon to be 38 can put up a 31, 14, and 8 stat line against the defending champions.... even if he isn't the greatest GM and won't win a title this year.

[oldgoldy97]

Originally Posted by bradjames12

1 game in and LeBron is already crapping on the Lakers as a team

https://uproxx.com/dimemag/lebron-ja...hooting-video/

Is he wrong?

[Dame]

Originally Posted by mfw13

Whatever Lebron tells him to.....you don't think that he actually gets to make any decisions, do you?

There's no way Pelinka would have traded three solid rotation players for Westbrick if LeBron hadn't insisted on it....

That quote was for this years roster. Pelinka added Bev, Schroeder and Lonnie Walker IV on top of what they have (Nunn, Reaves and Westbrook). I don't think those are LBJ moves tbh. Historically, he loves his spot up shooters.




Regarding Westbrook? 100% LBJ has a significant part in it but ultimately though, this falls on the GM.

[hairyangryfella]

Originally Posted by tjforce

1 game in and both sides need to chill on the LeBron hot takes and just appreciate that a guy that's soon to be 38 can put up a 31, 14, and 8 stat line against the defending champions.... even if he isn't the greatest GM and won't win a title this year.

He had like 12 points in the third until GS went up by 25, then he started scoring. Credit to them for making it interesting, but why wait so long to start taking over? Even the commentators were talking as if they were surprised/disappointed he wasn't doing much prior to then.

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by hairyangryfella

He had like 12 points in the third until GS went up by 25, then he started scoring. Credit to them for making it interesting, but why wait so long to start taking over? Even the commentators were talking as if they were surprised/disappointed he wasn't doing much prior to then.

Again, guys gonna be 38 in 2 months. Jordan was shooting 41% by that age, Kobe, Bird, Magic, Wilt, Russell were all retired

Any good basketball he plays is just icing on the cake that is an all time great career. I don't see the point in getting worked up either way on his at this stage.


And also, what you wrote isn't even true. He had 14 at half and hit a 3 a 1:11 into the third to get them within 5.

Are we really getting on this guy for 'only' scoring 17 points a minute into the 3rd? He was the game's leading scorer at that point.

[Above the Rim]

The play of LeBron most likely will not be the problem this season. Remaining healthy throughout the roster will be key. And the other players all need to contribute on a true NBA level. If we get that, first round of playoffs and slim outside chance of making it to the 2nd round - realistically that is the ceiling to hope for with this years Lakers.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by Dame

That quote was for this years roster. Pelinka added Bev, Schroeder and Lonnie Walker IV on top of what they have (Nunn, Reaves and Westbrook). I don't think those are LBJ moves tbh. Historically, he loves his spot up shooters.

Regarding Westbrook? 100% LBJ has a significant part in it but ultimately though, this falls on the GM.

Agreed.

But if it wasn't for the fact that the Lakers traded three good rotation players for Westbrook, they'd already have a good spot-up shooter, i.e. Kuzma. And they would have had more cap flexibility to go out and add better players.

But since the Lakers traded away all their 1sts and good young players, they can't go over the cap, since they don't have Bird rights to anybody who is actually useful.

[tjforce]

Most interesting games on the schedule tonight:

Pelicans vs Nets
Cavs vs Raps
Mavs vs Suns

Should be some great basketball.

[eastbayak]

Originally Posted by tjforce

Most interesting games on the schedule tonight:

Pelicans vs Nets
Cavs vs Raps
Mavs vs Suns

Should be some great basketball.

My predictions for tonight’s winners:

Pelicans
Raptors
Suns

[Zedlaw]

Pelicans v Nets has a lot of juicy story lines. It's feels great to have the NBA back. Why am I excited to spend too many evenings watching the Suns through scared fingers? Fully anticipating every starter to miss large chunks of the season but hopeful everything comes together for a what-about-us playoff run. Bring it

[hairyangryfella]

Originally Posted by tjforce

Again, guys gonna be 38 in 2 months. Jordan was shooting 41% by that age, Kobe, Bird, Magic, Wilt, Russell were all retired

Any good basketball he plays is just icing on the cake that is an all time great career. I don't see the point in getting worked up either way on his at this stage.


And also, what you wrote isn't even true. He had 14 at half and hit a 3 a 1:11 into the third to get them within 5.

Are we really getting on this guy for 'only' scoring 17 points a minute into the 3rd? He was the game's leading scorer at that point.

He's the leader of this team despite his age and he had 3 whole points in the first quarter (all on one play). I distinctly heard the commentators exclaiming that he only had 12 points, appears this must have been late in the second (he got his 13th and 14th with free throws with 1 second left). Just feels like he didn't starting turning it on until the game was essentially out of hand already, and I feel like we saw that last year a lot too. Maybe it's the first game and one they never thought they were going to compete in anyway, but he clearly has the ability still (to get to 31), just does it when it's more stat padding than leading.
I enjoyed watching him, he's still unstoppable at times, just don't understand why he doesn't seem to try/take control when his team really needs him to. Seemed like they forced a lot to AD instead.

[GOATcards]

Originally Posted by tjforce

Again, guys gonna be 38 in 2 months. Jordan was shooting 41% by that age, Kobe, Bird, Magic, Wilt, Russell were all retired

Any good basketball he plays is just icing on the cake that is an all time great career. I don't see the point in getting worked up either way on his at this stage.


And also, what you wrote isn't even true. He had 14 at half and hit a 3 a 1:11 into the third to get them within 5.

Are we really getting on this guy for 'only' scoring 17 points a minute into the 3rd? He was the game's leading scorer at that point.

Kareem on the '86 Lakers at the age of 38 was highly productive, looks like Bron'll exceed that level and more or less prove his all-time-scoring-leader-ness (with some asterisks regarding MJ's availability, since MJ has gotta be considered the greatest scorer, period, the GOAT in scoring) (Edit) also, a pretty darn good player on defense lol).

[daeve]

Originally Posted by PKIPP

A bit different.. Gobert has bricks for hands, Mitchell not passing to him unless wide open was a smart thing. Guy has the coordination of a 5 year old.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

lol no - https://twitter.com/clutchpointsapp/...823809?lang=en

went quite a bit further than that. 2 passes per game. They didn't like each other, and Mitchell chose to be petty about it. It's often easy to see when teammates don't like each other, so after game 1 - I think Poole/Draymond will be fine. I didn't see anything to suggest otherwise.

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by GOATcards

Kareem on the '86 Lakers at the age of 38 was highly productive, looks like Bron'll exceed that level and more or less prove his all-time-scoring-leader-ness (with some asterisks regarding MJ's availability, since MJ has gotta be considered the greatest scorer, period, the GOAT in scoring).

And I think the whole basketball world appreciated Kareem's longevity. Granted, I was way to young to know what was going on, but I don't ever recall hearing people badmouth Kareem's play at the time.

Which is an interesting parallel, because at that time Kareem was probably at the same place LeBron in now in the GOAT discussion.

[GOATcards]

Originally Posted by tjforce

And I think the whole basketball world appreciated Kareem's longevity. Granted, I was way to young to know what was going on, but I don't ever recall hearing people badmouth Kareem's play at the time.

Which is an interesting parallel, because at that time Kareem was probably at the same place LeBron in now in the GOAT discussion.

On the topic of badmouthing and future first-ballot HOFers, Reggie Miller as announcer was talking last night about how the people he talks with in his home city of L.A. really denigrate Russ ("Brick"), but you do kinda have to consider context here: his $40M salary. I dunno, should "Brick" be willing to take a pay cut, is management/LeGM open to the more serious criticism here, or . . . ?

[GOATcards]

At this point, $40M+ is like top-10-level players, right? So like the top 2 all-NBA teams. Russ's performance isn't anywhere near that, and the Laker fans Reggie hears from are bitter but maybe their bitterness is misdirected. How did they take on $40M in salary for this level of value production, again?

[blackbears86]

Originally Posted by tjforce

1 game in and both sides need to chill on the LeBron hot takes and just appreciate that a guy that's soon to be 38 can put up a 31, 14, and 8 stat line against the defending champions.... even if he isn't the greatest GM and won't win a title this year.

This x 10.


Bottom line: He's still brining it and almost 38. Dude can ball.

[Nomad]

A fair few collectors will actually be watching the Pacers - Wizards. On paper they look pretty even, but I expect Indy will dominate.

[blackbears86]

Love how the lakers dominate this thread after one game. THAT THEY LOST.



Is anyone going to talk about Tatum/Brown popping 35 a piece against the 76ers?


What's going to happen when LBJ retires? This boards going to fall apart.

[hairyangryfella]

Magic looking good so far... Banchero has started very well.

[rhigh2390]

Be honest.... Did anyone on here predict Simmons would score the first basket of the year for the Nets? Lol

[h00perstar34]

Anyone else like the kings to make the playoffs in the west at +360?

My favorite bet of the year. Mike Brown will demand a ton out of those guys defensively and they have no problem scoring and they’re deep. Think they end the 16 year drought.

[Nomad]

So Pacers down 10, Nesmith comes in they cut it to 1, Nesmith out they back down 12. Just saying. Wish Mathurin had some cards I could pick up.

Avedja injury.